Saturday, 31 July 2010

Woke this morning to the sound of annoyed chickens, seemed nobody had let them out as we had all overslept. I hurriedly got up, made our breakfast sorted out the medication for myself and Mrs W then, headed off out to visit my mum, we usually visit my mum and nan on a Saturday morning, but sadly my nan, had a fall a week ago and broke her wrist, she is well in her 80's and as a result is recovering slowly in hospital, causing them all kinds of problems as she is so set in her old ways, she won't accept help from social services and such. Anyway, we visited my mum, saw both my brothers too, one I have not seen in around a year! I could not believe it had been that long. But when we worked it out it had to be at least that, how time flies the older you get!

Our son had a great day as an extra for the series "skins" he said he will be in around 5 scenes, I will look out for him, I don't watch skins, but, I am sure I will just to see him, his program is due to be broadcast in January sometime. I will try and let you all know when too. He got paid too, £40 for the day, not too bad, for a 16 year old. During his Summer holiday too. On top of his regular job and paper round, he will soon be earning more than I do being a full time carer!

I left mums after drinking loads of coffee, then took our son to his work, he does 2 shifts on a Saturday and Sunday from 12:30 until 17:30 both days, but he works several miles from home, so I have to take him, the bus is not really an option as the pub he works in is semi rural. But very nice food and beer garden there.

We then headed to the Bristol Harbour festival, we arrived around 13:30 and finally had enough around 15:30. I say had enough, the crowds were huge and I was finding myself getting into what I can only describe as a panic like state, my breathing became erratic and I had a feeling I was going to pass out, I began to have irrational thoughts too, most unlike me. I eventually had to get out, a shame really as the atmosphere was great, loved the music and the hustle and bustle on the harbour too. The weather stayed nice, there were tall ships, pleasure craft and lots of market stalls from France. We also had a hog roast roll, carved freshly off a whole pig. It is on tomorrow too. I might take a chance and go again, see how the weather is I think.

We headed home, I stopped off at the shops, bought some groceries and our lottery ticket, made a cup of tea for us all, then made my way to collect our son from his work. Came home and had a long hard think and thought I had best stay in tonight, I had wanted to go to bingo. But, It is a cheap promotional night tonight and I figured it would be very busy. So, may not be worth going as the odds of winning would be even more decreased than usual. We also had a take away for our dinner. As we usually do. Usually Saturdays as a rule are busy what with family and other events we tend to do so take away seems the obvious choice really. As a general rule of thumb we only have a take away now on a Saturday or Sunday, sometimes both days when we can afford it.

Friday, 30 July 2010

Well we went to bingo last night, again came close, but not win, I only needed 1 number at several stages of the evening, but again no cigar for that! I may as well have been a million miles away.

I woke this morning and despite my alarm clock waking me I pushed the dreaded snooze button, I really did not want to wake to the day. I had to be up and ready as the carer was due in at 7am to assist Mrs W. I eventually emerged at 6:30am where I made breakfast for myself and Mrs W. I had not finished my breakfast when my son emerged from his bedroom, he is up early as, he is heading off for the day, to become an extra in a television programme called "Skins" which is filmed here in Bristol. The domestic carer let us down again!. They had not let us know we did not have a carer, we had to phone to be told our carer had called in sick and they did not have a replacement for us.

Some of my friends seem to have taken a dislike to the fact I go to bingo on a regular basis. They seem to think I should have no life as I am in receipt of benefits, they do not seem to realise, if I did not win, I could not go to bingo. Plus, they do not seem to like the fact we have a new car every three years either, I can't seem to reason with them, so, I just let them think what they like. I guess some people just do not understand how things work and as a result they say things without the full facts and knowledge.

Today, I have two mystery shopping visits, one to a coffee shop at our local railway station, followed by a pub locally, both involve making a purchase of certain drinks and to check how they are prepared, how I was treated and the speed of service.

I carried out the first visit at the coffee shop at the local railway station and our daughter came with me in the car, she waited outside while I carried out the visit, then she ended up drinking the coffee I purchased. I headed home to find the local wheelchair servicing van was outside the house, I had forgotten they were due round and had arrived earlier than expected anyway. I handed the man the wheelchairs after making my apologies for having forgot he was calling, he said he had not been on the doorstep long and I have to agree I don't think he had, as Mrs W was by the front door when I opened it, I nearly knocked her over she was that close to opening the door.

This afternoon I sat and watched a film on television, Mrs W had her nap and our daughter stayed in her bedroom, she has been tidying it, the amount of rubbish she is throwing away, it is any wonder she could actually get into her room prior to the clear out.

Early evening I headed out to a local bar to carry out the second mystery shop visit, I had to order 2 drinks as specified in the job scenario and report back as to how they were prepared, what brand of drink was offered and if any ice was placed into the drinks. The assignment did not pay much but it was at least a free drink and paid a little extra to cover the fuel cost, I am never going to become a millionaire mystery shopping, I do it to fill in some of my day and to keep my brain active and such.

This evening we are heading back to bingo, Mrs W wants to go, I didn't take much arm twisting I can tell you. I like being able to go out for the evening, socialise with others and possibly win some extra cash. Mind you, we have been fairly lucky at the Bingo club we recently joined. So I can't see any reason not to go really.

Thursday, 29 July 2010

Well, I must have needed my sleep, I woke up at gone 9am. I headed downstairs and our daughter was sat watching television, having been up for some time as she had her paper round to do. I made breakfast for myself and Mrs W then got ready for what the day will bring. I was able to sleep that long as we have no carers in today.

I headed out to the local shops and bought the groceries for the day, then came home and had to open all the windows and doors, as well as put a fan on, this house is like an oven lately, the council around 3 years ago now fitted double glazing and added insulation and cladding to the exterior, since then it is cosy on the Winter but unbearable at times in the Summer. Although our fuel bills have declined, so I can't really complain I guess.

I have no mystery shopping visits or audits today, so not really sure what else I will do today, I have a pile of washing but I feel it is way too hot to tackle that today, my asthma is still playing up, I am using my inhaler far more than I should. My peakflow is low too. always a bad sign of trouble to come. At least I am off the Steroids and antibiotics too. The steroids were beginning to have an effect on my appetite, so I am glad I have finished them.

This afternoon, Mrs W had her nap, the children were silent in their bedrooms, always a bad sign when you cannot hear them I feel. But in this instance everything was alright. They were silently playing on their games consoles. When they were little I would always get worried when we failed to hear them as they would surely be upto no good as a result of the peace.

This evening I have to take Mrs W to the doctors for her regular woman's check up, she had been putting it off for a while, but I talked her into going telling her it was for her own good in the long run.
Tonight is also free bingo at our local club, so, if the doctors are on time we shall head off and try and win at bingo. No win for me and my fellow carer last night, but we came awfully close, a couple of games we only needed one number, but like I say, one number or five, it is no good if you don't win. You may as well be way out as opposed to very near.

Wednesday, 28 July 2010

This morning Mrs W woke up and had a headache, I made breakfast and got her medication, the carer arrived and Mrs W sent her away as she said she did not feel like getting up at that time, the carer was a little annoyed as she could have had a few moments extra in bed had Mrs W let me know to cancel her. I had to sign the carers time sheet to say she had been and gone with out doing her tasks.

After breakfast I headed out on my now regular price checking audits at a supermarket here in Bristol, three store all in all, I am getting them down to a fine routine now, they do not take me long at all. As with anything once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature. At each supermarket I bought the days shopping too.

Mrs W was supposed to go shopping, but as she felt unwell she had called and cancelled the carer while I was out, I was sort of expecting that, but I did think she might have asked the carer to come and do some domestic chores instead, the place does not stay as clean while the children are home, especially as they are in and out of the pool everyday.

After lunch the children headed into the rear garden and spent the afternoon in our large swimming pool, I watched some old movie and Mrs W headed back to bed for her afternoon nap. My asthma is still causing me some problems, lack of decent sleep on top, is making me feel a little on the grouchy side. I am having to think before I speak, more than usual as a result.

The afternoon I have also spent tweeting and chatting to fellow carers online, trying to make sense of issues we all seem to go through, one of my fellow carers has become the victim of a scam, but luckily they are actually getting the funds they paid out back, but like everything it could take longer to get it credited than it did for the buggers to take the funds.

This evening I am going to my local bingo club with a carer, we go every week, but last week she was ill so we did not go, this week we are going and I will have a meal out too, as well as pray we win again. Over the last month since 3rd July we have won over £600 a total of around £200 per week, I might take up becoming a professional bingo player at that rate.

Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Had a restless night last night, there seemed to be no air, the night felt very hot and sticky too. I found myself using my reliever inhaler during the night too, also this morning. I have so far with exception of my recent chest infection managed to avoid using it, I am guessing that the heat has aggravated my asthma.

We have no carers in this morning so we were able to have a sleep in this morning, probably just as well given my poor night last night, I made breakfast for Mrs W and myself, then headed off to the local shops for some groceries. I returned home and realised I had forgotten the damn milk, so had to head out again to buy some. If nothing else the walk would keep me fitter.

I have no mystery shopping visits today, so am making the most of a quiet day. Relaxing, watching television and such. I am cooking us lunch, today will be Chicken, ham and cheese escalopes, new potatoes and carrot's. We should have had them yesterday, but we were all far too hot and lacking in any need for food. So as a result we have to have them today, or they end up out of date completely.

This afternoon I sat at the computer editing some photos, I take lots and lots of varying photos and like to edit them into something that I think looks better before sharing them with my friends and family, my favourite stuff to take photos of are nature, butterflies, bees, caterpillars and such, but also flowers, planes, trains and my family of course.

This evening we are spending the evening in, Mrs W and my daughter are having their hair cut, the hairdresser comes to our house, making it easier for Mrs W. While she has her hair cut, I know doubt will be sat in front of the television trying to do as little as I possibly can.

Monday, 26 July 2010

The recent infection took hold of me for 4 weeks nearly! 2 lots of antibiotics and steroids, increased asthma medication too. Trouble is the steroids have made me put some weight on. such a vicious circle to end up in. The weight has slightly increased my Cholesterol now! I am sure to loose the weight in time with a regulated diet again.

Well we made it to bingo last night, bought 2 meals out costing £4.58 plus 2 drinks £3.75 plus bingo tickets costing £23.00 total spent £31.33. We played loads of games and it looked like we were not going to win at all, then, it happened I won again! a smaller win than we would have liked, but even so, we won £20 so for the whole night it cost us £11.33 for an evening out. Not too bad I don't think. The total winnings now since 3rd July since I joined Mecca bingo are now in excess of £600 anyway. I have been going to Gala bingo for 15 years and never had as much luck on their games. I think I am going to switch alliances to the new club.

This morning the carer came in and assisted Mrs W with her shower. I have three store price audits to carry out again today, not sure how much longer they will continue, but I am taking them as often as they become available. As one day as soon as they started they could cease being needed to be done.I headed home following the audits, then, filed my reports online.

Our domestic carer came in and gave the house a good cleaning from top to bottom, I can't moan I guess. But sometimes I feel I would be better off doing it myself, as I find myself even now going round after them doing an inspection, I nearly always find something she has missed. But on the whole I guess they do not do too badly.

I made lunch for us all, today was just a cheese and bacon toastie. Yes I do have a toasted sandwich maker, we used to live on them at one stage, making sweet and savoury ones too. Very versatile machines and still are even after all this time.

Mrs W had her nap and the children watched television or played on the play station game machine, I was left watching some movies in peace. All except the chickens who for some reason have started climbing up onto the kitchen window ledge and seem to be trying to grab my attention by pecking and clucking at the glass.
They have even seemed to take notice of the cutlery draw, rushing to the back door everytime they hear it. They seem to sense that the cutlery draw is somehow connected to feeding time here in our place, as a result, they are likely to get something too.

This evening we are heading to a pub in Bath, meeting some friends we have not seen in a while, should be a nice evening out if the weather holds, it is very warm and muggy here, wouldn't be so surprised if we saw a thunder storm, it feels as though we need it too.

Sunday, 25 July 2010

Had a much better night sleep, no cough during the night, I think it has finally nearly completely gone, I have finished my Steroids and taking my last antibiotic later this evening. So hopefully I am once again fighting fit. I woke this morning at around 8:30am and had to wake our son for his Sunday round, he had overslept by around 20 minutes. But he was up, out the house and doing his round in pretty good time. Don't think the customers of his would have even noticed at the speed he did his round.

We headed to my mum in laws this morning for around 10:30am. For a cup of coffee and a catch up, our son had some lunch there, before I took him to his afternoon shift at the pub he works. Our daughter stayed with mum in law and Mrs W and I headed home for our lunch. Mrs W headed to bed for her afternoon nap and I was left melting in the heat watching a film on television, I had a fan blowing full blast, but I was still suffering in the heat.

I also had to pop to a local shop for some groceries for the day, bread, milk and such, the heat was unbearable, it was nice while I was in the shop, they had air conditioning and the store was lovely and cool. I use local shops on the weekend as I find the supermarkets are all too busy for me to cope with, I seem to get all panicky when they are too busy, end up forgetting stuff and just have the urge to run off out of the store.

I collected our son from his afternoon shift, then, headed home. Our daughter is having something with my mum in law. Tonight, Mrs W and I might head to bingo, as well as having a meal out there too. There menu is not bad, a meal of a decent quality is only around £3 each. some meals I doubt I could prepare for that price at home, taking into account fuel and such. I don't think we shall be missing much on the television, so a night socialising at bingo might not be a bad idea, especially if we win on top of it all.

Saturday, 24 July 2010

Had a much better night last night, slept well, the cough has mostly gone, I am still having the odd coughing fit, but nothing like I was for the last few weeks, I think finally I am winning the battle, unfortunately, I have been on Steroids, the side effect of this is, I am eating far more than I should, but they always make me so hungry.

This morning I woke up at around 8:30am a considerable lay in for me, I woke our son up and made breakfast for Mrs W as well as make sure she had her medication as I usually do. I then had breakfast myself, checked twitter and Facebook as I usually do, while eating my breakfast.

This morning we are visiting my mum, I have not seen her properly for weeks what with holiday's illnesses and other events that have occurred, it will be nice to catch up with the gossip. I won't be seeing my Nana today, she is in hospital having had a fall in her garden. She fell and broke her wrist as a result, she was found in her garden by her neighbours. The trouble is, she will not accept the offer of any help, she feels that she would be at risk by having outside help coming in.

I stayed at my mum's for several hours, then after drinking lots of coffee I had to drop our daughter off at a local park area, she is meeting up with friends for the afternoon, then, I had to head to my sons place of work, drop him off, head to the supermarket to buy groceries as well as the lottery for tonight. I headed home and made lunch for myself and Mrs W. She then headed to bed for her afternoon nap and I was left in peace to watch a movie on the television.

I then had to collect our son from his shift at the pub around 5:30pm, head home and think about our dinner tonight, something quick and easy I think is in order, now, where did I put that pizza menu? do I have the energy to dial the number I ask myself. Hell yeah!

This evening myself and Mrs W have made our minds up, we should stay in, watch television and generally just chill out, having been out to bingo most nights the last couple of weeks. We figured it made sense to take a break from it. Can't say I am overly impressed at staying in, I have enjoyed the social aspect of going to bingo plus the added bonus of our winning streak of late too.

Friday, 23 July 2010

woke up this morning having had one of the worst nights sleep in ages my cough kept me awake and the heat I was generating in the process made it impossible to sleep. I really do not know how Mrs W slept through it all to be honest! I was up and down like a yoyo all night, nothing I did seemed to ease it, I felt so tired this morning as a result.

The personal carer came in and helped Mrs W with her shower, we got chatting and it turned out that her daughter and our daughter know each other at school. Small world is it not?

I took our daughter to school for the last time this school year. We left our home later than usual as I knew the roads would be somewhat less congested as most schools had finished yesterday around here, but I still got her to school earlier than needed.

I headed to the supermarket following the school run and bought the daily provisions, I came home and the carer was due to carry out the domestic duties, the agency gave her the wrong address and she was late coming as a result. Then I had to give her instruction on what needed to be done and where all the cleaning stuff was.

Our daughter finished school early today, but has headed off with her friends for some lunch, shopping and park fun before coming home. Our son headed off with some of his friends too. Mrs W went to bed, so, I headed to an afternoon of bingo for myself. I usually stay and watch a movie while she is in bed, but I had a voucher for Gala bingo which made my books loads cheaper, plus I had hoped being the afternoon it would have been quieter so more chance of winning.

I came home from bingo, having not won, then made our dinner.Our daughter made it back in time for dinner and was able to have hers straight off the hob, however our son stayed out beyond dinner time, despite telling us he would be back for dinner, his meal remains on the hob ready, probably end up in the bin as I am sure he will refuse to eat it. Mrs W wants to head to bingo tonight so we will more than likely be heading there tonight, not sure if it will be Mecca or Gala bingo we prefer Mecca to Gala but Gala is slightly cheaper tonight, however Gala is much closer to us. I will hopefully get a lay in tomorrow. Plus feel much better too. This cough is still being persistent, however it does seem slightly better as the day has gone on, I hope that last night was the spell it took a turn for the worst and is now on the mend finally.

Thursday, 22 July 2010

I had to get up extra early this morning as I had to take our daughter to school for 7:30am as she is heading to Drayton Manor as an end of term treat. I then headed to Tesco, which is nearby to the school, as a rule I try and avoid it as it is rather big, the staff unhelpful and I just feel I am climbing the walls in there. I headed home after rushing round Tesco to get out.

We have no carers, no mystery shops and no store audits to carry out today so, with this in mind I woke up our son and got Mrs W ready then, we hopped in the car and drove to Bristol Zoo. I entered the car park and was greeted by an attendant. I offered him the money to park, he saw the blue badge and waived me on, directing me to some disabled spaces, Great, we then had to queue as we had actually got to the zoo just before it opened. The zoo entrance staff did not charge me, they gave Mrs W a reduced rate too, our son got a concession rate too. It only cost £23.50 for the three of us, not bad I thought. Only criticism I did have was trying to exit the disabled car parking space. I found it very tight and actually had to reverse our car out along a narrow road where pedestrians were walking. I guess that is a draw back of having a large car. Citroen Berlingo is more like a van really. The weather stayed good for us while there and only started to rain on our way home, we spend around 2 hours in the zoo and were glad we went early as it did get rather busy as time went on. Lots of school children presumably on their end of term trip.Take a look at the photos HERE

We headed out of the zoo and home, then I suggested it would be good to finish off the morning with lunch out, so we headed to our favourite Italian Bottelino's at Emmersons Green, they do a huge pizza for £4.95 I normally end up asking for some of mine to be boxed up and bring home. Our son however manages to eat all of his!

We headed home after lunch, Mrs W had her afternoon nap, our son vanished into his bedroom and I was once again left to watch some old movie on the television, this afternoon I have to collect my mum-in-law from her bust stop, she had been away for a few days and needed transport home. Then this evening I am heading to my daughters football team's BBQ after I have collected her from the school, following her day out to Drayton Manor, as a result I am unable to go to bingo tonight, but have every intention of going tomorrow night if I can.

Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Well, it seems my run of good luck continues, we went to bingo last night and, won another £40.00. In 2 days we have won nearly £600.00 enough to pay for our holiday away at Christmas, something I was beginning to think we would have to cancel this year due to a severe shortage of cash, the mystery shopping work has been a little slow this year compared to other years, we seem to have lost a few good clients, due to the recession, they have cut back on mystery shoppers, or, have gone bankrupt. As a result leaving us with fewer assignments.

The carer arrived bang on time this morning, luckily I had managed to get into the bathroom before she arrived today, so that should make things simpler and easier when the rest of the clan want to use the bathroom. She also purchased a dozen and a half eggs from us too. She said she liked the way we kept our chickens and wanted to try the eggs for herself. Our new hen still has lice, we are trying to treat her, but I think she was so badly effected it is taking time to rid her of them. She is looking healthier as time goes on though so we must be doing something right.

This morning I have three supermarkets to price check again, I am enjoying the regular income from the audits, but I do not know how much longer they will be available, so I am putting the money into our savings rather than into our banking account. I rarely save my income from mystery shopping like this. But figured we are heading into the most expensive half of the year, we will need to buy new school uniform in September, then, before you know it we will be on top of Christmas, scary thought!

I managed to carry out the audits in very good time, then headed to Iceland to purchase some burgers and sausages as tomorrow it is our daughters football team BBQ. It seems she does not want to continue next season, much to my disapproval, but I guess there is no point in forcing her to go if she really does not want to any more. Then headed home to bank our £40 winnings from last night and then made lunch.

After lunch I sat and watched some film on the television, Mrs W had her nap and then, I headed out on the school run. I am considering heading back to bingo tonight, in view of our winning streak of late, they do say things come in three's so either I am going to win at bingo again tonight, or, am going to win the lottery! highly unlikely I know, but I can dream can't I?

Tuesday, 20 July 2010

Well, how much more different can you finish a day on, yesterday while out doing some assignments for a mystery shop company, I was hit, not me personally, but the car was rear ended. No injury or damage to our car luckily. Then by the evening when we were at bingo I had the fortunate win of £550 for a full house. The biggest win we have ever had, much welcomed too. It will pay for our Christmas holiday we have booked.

This morning I had the usual school run, then a trip to the bank to deposit our winnings and also a trip to an electrical shop to purchase a light bulb for the kitchen, I have been meaning to replace it for a while, it had not worked properly for a while. What fun and games we had getting the light bulb working, the fitting must be some 20 years old, the old light bulb was to my knowledge 16 years old, it did not want to come out easily.

I was due to have some lunch with Mrs W and our son, however a mystery shop company emailed me asking if I would carry out an audit at a garage nearby, I agreed and as a result ended up going with out lunch. The manager of the garage was not pleased to have me there and unusually did everything he could to obstruct me. I filed an official complaint against him as a result. I think he might think twice before obstructing an auditor again, I filed the audit report and then sat and watched a movie for a short while before carrying out the school run to collect our daughter, only a few more days left of doing the school run now, before they break up for the Summer holiday.

After the school run this afternoon, I have a mystery shopping visit at a local chemist to carry out. I hope the staff there are more co-operative than I encountered earlier on today while carrying out the audit. I hate rude or unhelpful staff, that is part of the reason I became a mystery shopper, to try and improve the face of the employees and companies. The rewards are not very good, except sometimes I do see an improvement, following my visits.

This evening I was going to go to bingo with a fellow carer, however she called me and cancelled due to her not being well, I am considering going with Mrs W again, see if I can't have a repeat of last night! Although I doubt that would happen so soon. It would however be very nice if it did!

Monday, 19 July 2010

Woke this morning at 6am, even before my daughter for her paper round, she came downstairs and I think I made her jump as I was sat eating my breakfast, I hoped to have had my breakfast and shave before the carer had come into help Mrs W with her shower, however even though I woke earlier, she arrived earlier too, so nothing gained there. I headed out of the door for 8am to take our daughter to school, I dropped her off and then, headed off for the now regular three super markets I have been auditing for the last few weeks on a Monday and Wednesday.

I got to the first supermarket at around 8:20am. They were pretty good, only found a few errors, then headed to the second supermarket, where they too were good. I am wondering if, they are onto the fact they are being checked now, the mistakes are few and far between now. I left the second supermarket and was stationary at some traffic lights, in my rear view mirror I could see a small blue hatchback not slowing down, I braced myself and they hit me from behind, I half expected to see my rear end smashed to pieces, I got out of the car, the other driver was stunned, they tried blaming me, however witnesses said the light was red and I was stopped, I called the police, they helped clear the other car off the road, it was not drivable. Luckily nobody was hurt, only one car was written off, not mine thankfully!

I managed to get to the third and final supermarket, by now somewhat later than I had planned, but in one piece. They too were surprisingly up to date with their prices, I am now even more suspicious that they know they are being checked, despite the audits being covertly carried out. I often wonder if, I have ever been spotted while in the store. So far nobody has confronted me ever.

The afternoon was spent, filing reports for the mystery audits, then going to the post office with an ebay item that I had sold over the weekend. then I sat and watched a movie, while Mrs W headed to bed for her nap, our son was in his bedroom watching big brother on his laptop, he has become obsessed with the program.

We never made it out to our local bingo hall last night, I was feeling so rough, aching ribs, sore throat, cough. I spent the evening resting, well as much as possible anyway. We are planning on heading out tonight instead, if I don't deteriorate, which seems to be the case towards the end of the day. I have taken things into my own hands, I have started on the second lot of antibiotics today, I have had enough of constantly feeling rough with the cough, the doctor said wait a week before commencing them, I had managed 4 days, there had been no real improvement in my cough. I hope the antibiotics will start to help, if not it is back to the doctor for another diagnosis, which she currently feels might mean me coming off the Ramapril and onto something else for the blood pressure, she said in some cases patients develop a cough. I hope that this is not the case with me. Or it would mean weaning off the Ramapril and going onto something else.

Sunday, 18 July 2010

I woke up this morning at 8am. Not bad considering the long day out yesterday, I noticed that our son was not up for his Sunday round so made a diversion to his bedroom before heading down to turn off the house burglar alarm and make breakfast, he actually thanked me for waking him. However I had a feeling he would sleep in as he was still awake last night when I went to bed, watching Big Brother or something, I warned him then he would, but he assured me he would be fine. Probably the reason I woke this morning was because I had sensed he had not got up, usually I hear some movement and roll over and go back to sleep. But not this morning.

After breakfast I headed to the supermarket with our daughter, we bought some groceries for the day. Headed home and then made some lunch, we had it early today as our son had a shift at a pub, 12:30-5:30pm a bit awkward for timings bang on meal times, but I guess that is when the pub needs the staff more. So we have to alter our mealtimes to make sure he is fed before his shift starts. Again when he returned from work too.

This afternoon my cough is still causing me problems despite being put on steroids by the doctor 2 days ago, I am also feeling clammy and rather breathless. This is now my third week of suffering with it and they are still none the wiser as to its cause. It maybe a side effect of Ramapril, it maybe my asthma or it might be an infection, I had already had one lot of antibiotics, I have another different antibiotic to take if, after a week the steroids do not help.

This afternoon after dropping our son off at his shift, I stopped and had a pint with the owner of the pub, he is a close friend of ours. He was telling me of his adventures of his holiday to Ibiza, I was asked if I had been anywhere as I looked brown, I said Fairford. He replied he wanted to go, but was in Ibiza. I think he was trying to make me feel jealous, but it failed to work. Ibiza somehow does not appeal to me anyway.

I sat and watched a film, followed by a repeat of coach trip while Mrs W was in bed for her afternoon nap, our daughter was up in her bedroom, watching something on her laptop.

This evening we are contemplating heading to one of our local bingo halls for some games of bingo, when I say we, I of course mean myself and Mrs W. Although I am not sure I really feel up to it. I think I over did things yesterday and that could be why I am feeling a little delicate today with my cough and such. But I find it hard to rest as I should. Putting everyone else before myself unselfishly pretty much of the time.

Today would have been my late father in laws birthday, that made heading to Fairford slightly emotional for me yesterday, Fairford was one of his favourite events of the year, strangely I could here his laugh, his excitement and banter as I was walking round and watching the many aircraft fly. It was almost as if he were with me yesterday. His all time favourite aircraft display team were the Red Arrows, or as he used to call them the "Dead Sparrows ". He was very much a person that where ever we were would know someone. We always said we could not go anywhere, any time. with out him knowing someone, even at my daughters football matches, he would often know someone there. As you can probably gather I miss him very much. He meant so much to myself and everyone who knew him. R.I.P Alan Reed

Saturday, 17 July 2010

Well today was the day, I had been most looking forward to in a long while, the Royal International Air Tattoo 2010 at Fairford. I woke up prior to my alarm clock going off at 5:45am. packed the car and made breakfast for myself and Mrs W as well as giving her her medication that she would probably forget had I not given it too her. My son emerged shortly after me from his bedroom having been woken by the chickens, good job really, saved me going upstairs and banging on his door. He was going to come with me today, our daughter stayed home with Mrs W and then a little more civilised time Mrs W's mum was popping over to help look after her for a short while.

We left the house at 6:20am and actually got to Fairford at around 7:30am, but it took us an hour to get into the car park, once in the car park we then had to queue for the security checks, we got into the show ground at 9:00am. settled on a spot to sit and watch the show. Then I wandered the static displays, grabbed a news paper which came with a handy transistor radio which we tuned into hear the commentary. I also managed to grab a couple of boxes of taster packets of Yorkshire tea too, Mrs W would like them I thought as I picked them up.

The day, stayed dry, much to the relief of many people who, had, been praying very, very hard for it to stop raining. Based on the fact last year was a wash out for many who attended, thankfully it seemed that everyone had prayed hard enough. The day was warm rain free and the cloud was high enough for a decent display to be put on for the massive crowd. I would not like to guess how many people there were in attendance, but there was every conceivable nationality.

We sat and ate the picnic we had taken with us. Much to my relief, the prices were not cheap. I bought an ice cream for my son. £1.80 for a screwball! then I bought myself a pint of cider, £3.60. The food was equally as expensive, so I was thankful we had 2 back packs full of snacks and drinks.

We left to come home to Bristol just before the Red Arrows did their display, having heard the chaos and experienced limited chaos getting into the airbase, we did not fancy a repeat getting out of it, so beat the rush. I was expecting a few people to make contact while I was at the air show, having been in contact prior to going to the show, but not one of them did. Goes to show, all the best made plans, never go to plan. Even if they were only provisional.

We got home to Bristol at 6:40pm. so a long day all in all, with that in mind I did not feel like cooking anything, so, we ordered a pizza and I am now sat relaxing with a nice cold Cider or two, after having had the pizza for dinner. I am now watching Saturday night television, while enjoying the remainder of the sunshine that has been bestowed upon us all day.

If you would like to see the photos I took of today, then click HERE There are a total of 144 pictures.

Friday, 16 July 2010

I woke up this morning half expecting to find our fences down, the chicken coop on it's side given the high winds we had last night. But all was fine. We let the chickens out, then I made breakfast for myself and Mrs W. The carer came in this morning to assist Mrs W with her showering. Dressing and such.

Then we had another carer in to assist with the house work, it is not often we both agree, but neither of us liked her, hopefully we won't be having her back in a hurry. But then I guess that is a pitfall of using a carers agency, you have to have who they send. Sometimes I wish we had actually gone down the route of hiring our own, but that system seemed more complicated at the time we got the funding.

I have been following all the news reports about Fairford this weekend and following the tweets of the arrivals at the airbase during the week, I am praying like I have never prayed in a long while that the weather holds for me this year. I hope it will be a thoroughly enjoyable day as a result. More on Fairford to come tomorrow after I have been.

I have an appointment with my doctor this morning after the school run and visit to the supermarket, I still have my cough, I am wondering if, it might be a side effect of the Ramapril tablets. I will know more later. The doctor has given me some steroids and antibiotics again, she is hopeful that it is as a result of my asthma I am experiencing the cough and not the Ramapril, time will tell.

After the doctor, I came home and realised we needed electric, so headed off to top up our key meter as well as taking our son to purchase his first ever lottery ticket. He recently turned 16, so is able to partake in the lottery draws now. He was well chuffed.He also checked the tyre pressures and fluid levels on the car for me, while I was at the doctors. I already filled the tank with fuel. But I always like to make sure the tyres and such are all in the best order they can be before heading off on a journey well away from home ground.

I also have a mystery shopping visit at a mobile phone store in Cribbs Causeway today too, they don't take too long once you are used to them. I find the most time consuming thing is the travel and the filing of the reports. I do tend to take jobs in clusters where I can, so if I am travelling to an area, I will look and see if there are any I can do along the way, while there, or on my way home. But it is not always possible like today.

I came home, had lunch and then watched a film as I tend to before the school run. The weather is looking threatening again now, dark clouds, high winds. I am still living in hope the weather will be kind tomorrow for Fairford air tattoo.

This evening will probably be an early one for me as I have planned to wake at 6am tomorrow morning to head to Fairford and it promises to be a long day with flying finishing at around 8pm having been going since 10am. But I have to arrive early to beat the masses of queues that are forecast.

Our chickens still seem to have an infestation of what I believe could be lice, despite treating them. I am pretty sure we will beat the infestation, but they cannot be feeling on top of the world. The new hen seems more infested to be honest, can't see any on the two original hens. Will be grateful of any advice if anyone out there keeps chickens.

Thursday, 15 July 2010

I woke this morning at 6:20am. Headed down stairs and gave our daughter the money to catch the bus, I have had a poor night sleep, my cough is still irritating me after a week of being on antibiotics, I am considering heading back to the doctor as I just cannot shift it. I headed back to bed for a short while and re emerged at around 8:30am. Made breakfast, then headed to the super market for our daily groceries. Also the bank where I had to withdraw some funds for the day and also pay some bills that I refuse to pay be direct debit.

I came back from the super market, packed the groceries away, then tried to book a doctors appointment, typically with our doctor, there were no appointments for today, the earliest available to book today was on Monday, I shall try again later as after 7pm, they make more available, so I may well be able to get one tomorrow. I then had to head out to a mobile phone shop, to carry out a mystery visit there.

On my return from the mystery shop visit at the mobile phone store, I stopped off and dropped an anniversary card through my brother in laws front door. They have been married three years today. Cant say I recall the weather being like it is today though, blowy and damp is no where near good enough to describe it today!

After lunch I sat and watched a movie on the television. The weather seems slightly better this afternoon, maybe it might brighten up for the weekend. I am heading to The Royal International Air Tattoo on Saturday, last year we got rained on most of the day, many of the acts and flights were cancelled, but the show went on so we had to go, so as not to lose our money, the year before the show was cancelled so we got a refund. In a way I am hoping they call it off this year, I don't relish the thought of standing on the flight line in pouring rain again this year!

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

I woke this morning surprisingly refreshed following yesterday's eventful day, I found it easy to get out of bed for the day, made breakfast, wrote a shopping list for Mrs W and her carer and then headed off on the school run and three price checking audits, the audits are the ones I have been doing for the last couple of weeks for a large supermarket chain.

I made a request using the online system for more medication for my blood pressure and asthma, I also realised for the last couple of days I had been taking a lower dose tablet for my blood pressure, I hope, that has not had an ill effect overall, I have now thrown away the lower does tablets and will start taking the correct does again tomorrow. I had the lower does tablets as a result of starting on them, then having the dose increased, I forgot to use them up in the process of the increase, as a result I just opened the packet that said Ramapril on the front of the box, not realising my mistake!

There was no win for me at bingo last night, but a nice social evening was had with my fellow carer friend, also last night we had some fire engines in the road, not sure why, they did not stay for long, there appeared to be no fire or any other event, but I saw the blue lights and heard the sirens, I even managed to get a photo of them in the road, yes, I do take a photo or more of pretty much everything I see.

I came home from the three price checking audits, filed the reports online, just in time for Mrs W to arrive home shortly after me with the weeks shopping she had purchased. I sat for a short while watching television while Mrs W had her nap after lunch, then headed off to the post office to pay the water bill and then to the newsagent to do this weeks lottery numbers, finally off for the school run, only another week left until our Daughter breaks up for the summer holiday, giving me a short break from the school run, but that does not mean any longer in bed as on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I still have to be up early for the carers.

In one way the carers are a blessing, in another they can be somewhat of a hindrance to any daytime plans especially during the children's school holiday times, when we cannot plan a full day out on Monday's Wednesday's or Friday's as a result of the carers coming in and spending most of the morning at our place.

Tuesday, 13 July 2010

We went to lock up last thing last night and found our rear door would not close, during the day, having had all windows and doors open, somehow the door got slammed shut, we opened the door, propped it open and thought nothing more of it, until that is, we went to close the door last night and found we could not, the bottom hinge had, somehow been bent in the door slamming incident. So we tried and failed to fix it, at 10:30pm we called the emergency number for Bristol City Council and were assured someone would be out to fix it, after a few hours we called again, we were assured someone was on the way, I called again at 4:30am and was assured we were next on the list. Between myself and son we stayed up all night as our rear door was not secured, I came down at 6:20am to find my son and daughter sat on the settee. The rear door still not fixed. I called the council yet again and told my son to go to bed, the council assured me that someone had been, I told them if they had been they would have put a card through the door, right?. I was told "Always". There is no card through the door!. I am going to lodge an official complaint later today.

I have cancelled the three mystery shopping jobs I had lined up for today, due to a severe lack of sleep, I doubt I would fulfil the jobs correctly as a result. I have given our daughter money to get the bus to and from school too. Hopefully I will regain the sleep lost during today. I have admiration for our son, who honestly did most of the night shift waiting for the council. I struggled to stay awake, he begged me to go to bed when I came down at 6:30am. I will let him stay in bed for a while, something he is not used too.

Luckily there are no carers in today, so we can try and get some long lost sleep especially as our daughter is catching the bus. The council arrived finally at 7:10am. full of apology for being late, I bet he is sorry, or at least he will be by the time I have finished. I went back to bed, to try and catch up on sleep lost as a result of last night. When I woke, I got ready and headed out to the local housing office, where I lodged an official complaint about the lack of service and urgency, not sure what will happen as a result, probably nothing as always with the local council.

I came home and made sure that Mrs W and son were awake, then headed to the local fish and chip shop for our lunch, Not feeling like preparing anything for lunch, we had a take away instead.

Mrs W headed back to bed for the afternoon and I laid on the settee napping and watching television. Our son, I presumed was upstairs on his laptop watching Big Brother live feed or something. Although he could probably be asleep as well, I have not heard much from him.
Except he did come down and grabbed and ice cream from the freezer, before heading back upstairs again.

This evening I am going to make a simple jacket potato for our tea, then, I am heading to bingo with a fellow carer that comes with me once a week, we use the time to unwind and chat to friends we have made in the bingo club, plus on a Tuesday it tends to be cheaper than most other nights for the both of us.

Monday, 12 July 2010

Well last night saw the final of the world cup 2010, thank goodness, now, maybe we can get something decent to watch on television instead of the rubbish that has been broadcast lately, not just on one channel but several at times showing the same thing!. However well done to Spain who won it for the first time. Mrs W and I missed much of the boring television by heading to our local bingo hall, even there we could not escape regular updates.

Woke this morning and put our recycling and rubbish bins out, after making Mrs W some breakfast and giving her medication as I do pretty much every day. I skipped breakfast this morning, don't feel hungry, I guess I will do later though. . I asked our daughter to let the chickens out at 6:30am, one her way out to her paper round before they woke the neighbourhood with there manic clucking until they get let out.

I have the school run to carry out when our daughter returns from her daily morning paper round, followed by, the now regular three price checking audits that I have been getting. I am not sure how long they will keep coming, so I accept them and juggle other commitments around them. After all, every penny or in this case pound counts! I have also got to at some point if time allows, go to the local hospital to pick up a pair of shoes for Mrs W. She has them specially made to aid her walking albeit limited.

After the price audits and the collection of the shoes from hospital, I headed home, just in time to see the carer finish the house work, I filed my reports online, then it was time to think about lunch, we ate lunch and then Mrs W headed to bed for her afternoon recharge nap, leaving our son to play on his PS3 and surf the net up in his bedroom. I was surprised that he paid me for his Fairford Air Tattoo ticket this morning very promptly. Usually I have to remind him until I am blue in the face! but he actually paid me with no trouble, he must be really wanting to go and not upset me as a result.

I did the school run, then had to take Mrs W to the doctor as she is convinced there is something wrong with her yet again. I am not saying I disbelieve her, but she does have a tenancy to carry on about every little ache, pain and niggle she gets, more so since 2006 when they operated on her to remove a brain tumour on the brain stem. Some times the amount she carries on makes me feel down. Especially as I cannot really escape from her moans and groans. As I suspected, the Doctor could find nothing significantly wrong with Mrs W, however in view that Mrs W has been back a number of times with similar symptoms she is referring her back to the E.N.T specialists in our local area for yet another opinion of her symptoms.

I am looking forward to watching the usual rubbish on television, without the constant football references at long last. That said there is usually nothing on anyway, so will I really notice the difference?

Sunday, 11 July 2010

Myself, Mrs W and daughter all woke up at gone 9am this morning, our son however had to get up to complete his Sunday round, plus he covered for another round too, so even before we had got up, he had let the chickens out, had his breakfast and done 2 rounds. I do not feel guilty though, as usually I am struggling to wake him up, Sunday is the only day he gets up before me as a rule.

After I had made our breakfast and got ready for the day, myself and son headed off to the local pet shop, we purchased some medication treatment to help us rid the hens of the infestation of lice, then off to the recycling point with a big sack of plastics, then into Tesco for some groceries for the day.

We came home and treated the hens, hopefully we will see an improvement very soon, luckily the treatment given means we can still eat the eggs, it would be a shame to have to throw the eggs away.

We had lunch early as I had to take our son to his regular shift at the pub he works, also drop our daughter off at my mother in laws. She will spend the afternoon with her, then collect our son from work and bring him home for us. That means we are on our own all afternoon.

Mrs W however headed to bed for her regular afternoon catch up nap, leaving me to fetch some squash from the local shop, I forgot to get some earlier from Tesco. I also picked up a couple of cans of Cider and sat with the doors, windows and a fan on, watching the British F1 on television while drinking said cans. You would have thought after yesterday at Yeovil I would be searching for peace and quiet, but not me, the louder the machines, the better I like them.

Our son is going to try and get time off next weekend, to allow myself and him to head to Fairford air tattoo, I am waiting for a text so I can go ahead and buy the tickets.I got the text, bought the tickets, so I guess come what may, we are heading to Fairford next Saturday, I hope it stays dry, unlike last year when it rained much of the day on us all.

This evening Mrs W and I shall probably head to bingo as the world cup final is being broadcast on both mainstream channels, therefore there will be nothing on television to interest us. Plus the children would have both been fed and watered, so we might leave a little earlier and buy one of the meals that are reasonably priced at the cafe in the bingo club.

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Woke up today, had breakfast and made some for Mrs W, then I packed the car, picnic, foldaway chairs, sun hats, cream and all other stuff that might be useful to watch all manner of aircraft at the Yeovilton Airday 2010. Myself and my Daughter went this year, our son headed to work as usual, Mrs W headed to a shopping centre with her mum. She purchased some more clothes for herself while out.

We left our home at 7am, arrived at Yeovilton at around 8:20am and headed out to join the masses who were already lining up for the gates to open, they were not due to open until 9:00am. They opened military style on time. We headed into the trade stands first and looked around the hangers, then headed to the flight line, where, we managed to get a front row viewing spot, we put our chairs there and claimed our spot. Some gentlemen sat next to us offered to look after our chairs so we could go and look around the static displays. We headed back to our spot, where by now the area was somewhat crowded, we very nearly didn't find our chairs again at one point. The morning started off a bit dull and windy at times, but as the day went on and just in time for the Red Arrows the sun came out and people were catching the sun. I had to remind my Daughter to put some sun block on as she was starting to catch.

About mid afternoon I treated our daughter to an ice cream, not that she needed to eat much, having devoured most of the picnic I prepared all on her own, I treated myself to a pint of ice cold Cider, it was refreshing in the blazing sun.

The morning saw various comings and goings of flights of all manner of aircraft, then, with an almighty boom, the Red Arrows came into the base, they landed and, parked up right in front of myself and Daughter. We had a magnificent view of the aircraft and the pilots as well as crew, who worked on the aircraft before they were due to do their display. Boy did we know when they started up, we could feel the heat from the engines and talk about draft, people all around us were losing their hats in the back draft of the engines.

The Vulcan Bomber made an appearance too, much to the delight of the crowd, also various other aircraft, from all over the world, the only cancellation of the show was the battle of Britain flight, which had not come as one or more of the aircraft were in for urgent repairs.

We headed off, just prior to the finale so as to avoid the masses that were already heading into the car parks when we left, we escaped the crush of cars exiting the car park and got home at around 18:00, I headed to the supermarket as I knew Mrs W would not have bought provisions that we urgently needed while she was out. My hunch was right and luckily we now have the grocery supplies we needed.

I stopped off at a pet shop to buy some treatment for our chickens, it seems they have some lice or mite of some sort, I suspect it was bought into the brood by the new chicken or by a bird that visited the garden, however the shop had just shut, I guess I shall have to try again first thing tomorrow morning, a large chain of stores is open on a Sunday nearby, so it should not be a problem to obtain.

As we had been out all day and none of us had eaten much while were were out, I ordered a take away that was delivered to our door, I actually finished all mine, which is a rarity as I usually find the portions are always too large for me.

Friday, 9 July 2010

Woke this morning and made breakfast for myself and Mrs W as I do every day, not sure why I blog that too be honest, but anyway that is what I did. I then took our daughter to school, headed to the supermarket and bought the groceries for the day as I do every day of the week. You all must be sick and tired of reading about this by now too.

I have spent most of the day emailing and communicating with an idiot of an Ebay buyer, who gave me negative feedback for their own error. Go figure, I don't mind getting a black mark to my name if it is something I have done, but not for their own error for goodness sake.

The swimming pool chemicals I purchased from Ebay arrived today too, the wrong damn size, I looked again on line and decided the sellers were all taking the piss with their prices and headed off to a local store nearby, being diverted by the police due to an incident where a 19 year old has been stabbed, the roads were chaos, I got to the shop and sure enough, they had the tablets that I needed and at a fraction of the cost I could get them online, so I guess online is not always the answer, yes you get the items delivered and all that, but if you are out when they deliver that can cause no ends of problems, in the end I do find sometimes getting in the car to get the items much more productive.

When I returned from the shop, Mrs W went to bed and I sat watching a film and chatting to our son, not in the same room, but on twitter of all things! He seems to have caught the twitter bug after finding lots of people interested in Big Brother on there including house mates and ex house mates, so I have found him on there considerably more lately, it is quite funny, considering he always said he never understood my attraction to twitter and now there he is tweeting himself!

I have also been packing a picnic and various other items as tomorrow myself and daughter are heading to the Yeovilton airday, should be fun and lovely day out if the weather holds like it has today. I will blog about that tomorrow I hope.

I also have my yearly eye sight test today and a review of the progress of the suspected Glaucoma that I have been showing signs of too, I hope that goes alright. You will be glad to know, day two on the antibiotics and things are already looking up, my cough seems loads better already. I am feeling less tired too, so I hope I am on the road to recovery until the next hurdle gets thrown at me.

Mrs W and I are planning on heading to one of the bingo clubs tonight too, we seem to be enjoying the company of others and socialising. I always did, but it was Mrs W who tended to shy away, fearing what people would make of her, making a mess, needing help with her drinking and such. I have been telling her for ages it is not her problem she should just get on with life. Looks like she is finally listening too me. It was her idea we go tonight, following her choice not to go last night, she could be feeling a little guilty I am guessing, in anycase I am looking forward to the prospect of going out and possibly another win!

Thursday, 8 July 2010

I sent our daughter to school on the bus today, so I could have a slight lay in. I had a doctors appointment at 9am, so it was not going to be a long lay in. I headed to the doctors after making Mrs W and I some breakfast. As I suspected I was not able to shift the cough as I have a chest infection, I picked up my prescription and then as luck would have it I was able to carry out a mystery shopping visit at a chemist whilst I collected my prescription. The beauty of mystery shopping is you can carry out visits while doing normal every day chores, even when you are unwell if you feel well enough to do it that is.

Another reason our daughter caught the bus to and from school today is, she had been awarded Pupil of the term, so as a treat she is being taken to the local Pizza Hut for a reward meal. So she would be home from school later than usual as well, it made sense for her to go and enjoy her meal and to come home when ready on the bus.

After the doctors and filing the mystery shop report on line, I headed to the local corner shop for some bread and milk, no supermarket today, I hate going to the supermarket when they are busy, so I use local shops instead when I cannot face the hoards of shoppers in the larger supermarkets.

The chicken wars are dulling down and all three hens seem to be getting on at last, there is still the odd scuffle but nothing like it was initially. At least they all settle down in the coop at night, so there is no fighting at bedtime. They seem to be hanging around together somewhat more too, another good sign I am guessing.

Lunchtime Myself and son, headed off to one of our favourite Italian Restaurants, Mrs W has been in bed alot of the day today, feeling under the weather, I wonder if she has succumb too my cold?. She has not had much to eat or drink, but has slept much of the day, so I guess she must need to sleep.While she has been in bed and once we came back from the Italian for our lunch, I sat and watched a film, my son cleaned the chicken coop, moved it to fresh grass and then had a swim in the pool.

The evening will be sat watching television I guess, we were going to go to our local bingo club but as Mrs W is feeling unwell we are staying in instead.

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Mrs W and I headed to bingo last night, I fear my winning spree is over, we did not win, not even a line, came close, but close is not good enough!

I am still suffering with a cold and dreadful cough, despite all the tried and not tried ways to ease it, I find it is just hanging around, I feel I may end up going to the Doctor if things do not improve for some anti-biotics.So I have booked an appointment tomorrow morning. Best to catch any infection sooner, rather than later being as I suffer with asthma and am a main carer too.

The carers agency responsible for Mrs W's care called last night to make plans for a different carer to call on us, different time too, however she never showed, at 7am. Instead, I had a telephone call saying the replacement had been cancelled as they had over slept. So our regular carer had been called in to aid Mrs W, she arrived at 7:25am, good job she lives not far from us, shame she had to be woken on her day off from us.

The new chicken "Penny" laid her first egg last night, smaller than we are used too, also slightly paler, I figure that despite being new to us, she is possibly slightly older than the other two we had, or, she was slightly older than the first two at time of purchase. I say this, as the first two did not lay until a week or two after purchase. She is still being hen pecked by one of our hens, but the other has already accepted her, I had to clip Penny's other wing as she made a bid for freedom again yesterday despite my having clipped one wing already.

I have three price checking audits to carry out this morning, also one mystery shopping visit too, Mrs W is heading out with her carer later grocery shopping. So I need not hurry home, as I know she will be looked after while I am out doing the assignments. Our son, is still home from school, he is waiting in for the plumber who is calling at some point to fix the shower bracket which had been broken by a carer some time ago.

The plumber called at 3:30pm, fixed the shower and I made quick use of the now fixed shower, I am heading to Bingo tonight with a fellow carer, Thought we might try the Mecca club here in Bristol for a change from the Gala club we usually head too. A change is as good as a rest, so they say.

Tuesday, 6 July 2010

We never made it to bingo last night, around 5pm, I started being violently ill, I had a suspicion the meal I had eaten lunchtime was not all it was cracked up to be, looks like my thoughts and suspicion was right, at one point I was unsure whether to kneel or sit when visiting the bathroom. Either way I was praying it would all stop soon.

Our daughter headed to school on the bus again today, just in case I was not well enough to carry out the school run, so far, so good, breakfast and drink, managed, I was woken early by yet more chicken wars in the coop, the new chicken is causing a few problems, I am assured this will settle in due course, I have had to clip her wings, as twice, she has escaped the fury of the existing two by heading over into next doors garden, I hope by clipping her she will find it difficult, even impossible to escape. I am going to head out and purchase some fencing material later, to improve the existing fence too. I am also going to replace our exterior light bulb, which blew some time ago. Just so we can keep a closer eye on the coop when it becomes dusk.

There are no mystery shopping visits today, no carers popping in either, so, it has been a leisurely day of doing pretty much nothing and chicken marshalling duties, The chickens are slowly settling down, however one of the original ones is still trying to show the new addition who is boss, but one of the original ones has already accepted the newcomer, I reckon it won't be long until all harmony is resumed in the back yard chicken kingdom. I have also spent some time resting on the settee while watching a film on one of the movie channels. I checked my blood pressure, something which I have not done in a few days too.It registered 133/95 still not bad I guess, considering last night and today, I have felt delicate following what I suspect was food poisoning from yesterday's lunch out.

Myself and Mrs W might try and head out to bingo later tonight, our local club offers free bingo on a Tuesday night, plus I need to purchase some corn feed for the chickens, so a nice little win would come in handy, also discovered I am out of pool chemicals too, so need to purchase some of them as well, they usually come from Ebay, the corn from Pets at home. Or Countrywide farmers shop, both have stores nearby to our house.

Monday, 5 July 2010

What an absolute ball I had last night,the reunion was fantastic, met up with some "old Great friends" it was emotional too, seeing my old drama teacher, he has been teaching at my old high school since 1976!, some of the memories that came back were awesome. Strangely it felt like I had not been away from my high school, but I had in fact been away from it for some 25 years! some people have not changed one bit, I could have closed my eyes and listened to them and they could have been exactly the same as they were all those years ago. After the reunion concert a small group of us headed to the local pub, where, when we were students we would dare to go for lunch, even though it was not allowed.

I woke this morning with a slightly sore head, following celebrations last night,not through drink, as I only had one pint, more to the fact, so many memories came flooding back, I hardly slept, made breakfast and then got ready for the school run, followed by, three mystery store price checking audits at local supermarkets, after which I headed home filed my reports and then headed off out to lunch with Mrs W and our son. However before lunch I had a mystery shopping visit at a D.I.Y store, so we headed to a pub near to that, I have to say the meal I had was disgusting, I left over half of it. But Mrs W and my son enjoyed theirs. My son refused even to try mine, as he could tell it was as bad as it looked.

Both the carers came in this morning so I had a break from assisting Mrs W in her showering and the house work was undertaken too, while I was out doing the mystery store audits. After lunch I headed to a local chicken farm, where, I purchased yet another chicken, I am not entirely sure I have done the right thing, there is much clucking, pecking and feather pulling of the new addition, I am certain it will calm down, but already we have had to retrieve the new addition from a neighbours garden from where it fled to escape.

This evening we are considering heading to our local bingo club, our luck does seem to be flowing in a positive way lately so it seems like a good idea that we do.

Our new chicken is called Penny, so we now have, Peggy, Megan and Penny. However I hope their constant clucking and feather pulling stops soon or Penny may look rather raggedy at this rate.

Sunday, 4 July 2010

We all woke somewhat later than planned today, actually at 10am. Our son of course was already up, having completed his Sunday paper round. I made tea and toast for Mrs W. Got ready and rushed out to the supermarket, I purchased the groceries for the days dinners and such. I also purchased some items to make a buffet as we are having all the family round today for Mrs W's birthday tea. We find doing a simple buffet an easy way to feed lots of family members, plus, I buy ready cooked items so I just remove the items from the fridge and serve. All except the sandwiches which I make on the day, usually opting for 2 kinds, ham and tomato and cheese and cucumber as a rule.

Last night Mrs W and I made a last moment decision to head to bingo again, we sat in the bingo hall and I introduced her to the electronic bingo machines, she was able to follow me playing the numbers much easier than on the books I usually buy, we won again, £20 this time. pity we are not winning the big sums of cash. But at least it made last night another cheap night out. Plus we avoided the rubbish that is being screened on the televisions lately, I cannot wait for the world cup to finish and Wimbledon too. I dread the Olympics that are coming up.

After the supermarket we had lunch, I bought a ready cooked chicken and some nice rolls, so we had hot chicken rolls for quickness. Then I had to take our son to his shift at the pub he works at, he serves food and clears tables as well as washes the pots and stuff. He seems to be enjoying it so far.

I came home after dropping him off and then put the washing machine on and the dishwasher, so we have empty appliances when the family show later. I sat and watched a film before laying out the buffet and preparing the sandwiches and such. I also cleared the huge mountain of washing that was waiting to be ironed, no, I did not iron it, I just moved it. I detest ironing and do almost anything to avoid doing it too.

I am unable to stay for the duration of the birthday celebrations as I am heading to a school reunion and concert for one of my old drama teachers who is retiring. I am sure there will be one or two if not more familiar faces and skeletons that emerge from the closet too.I found it hard to believe the teacher concerned was still at the school teaching after all these years. I mean it is some 20+ years since I left the school.

Saturday, 3 July 2010

This morning we should have been seeing my mum and nan, but I cancelled as we were supposed to be having guests staying with us last night, but due to car trouble they had to cancel, on the plus side, I was able to have a complete lay in, apart from the Chickens who woke the whole neighbourhood with their very loud and incredibly noisy clucking. As we had a lay in, nobody let them out until later and boy did we know all about their annoyance at this!.

Today is Mrs W's birthday, so the children and I gave her breakfast in bed, presents and cards too. Then we all got ready for the day, I headed off to Morrisons for some groceries and a large dairy cream cake, which I later presented to her with some candles on top of it as a birthday cake.

I then headed off with our son to take him to his shift at the pub, while there I had a sneaky pint of rather nice Stowford press cider, I sat in the garden of the pub until it was his shift start time. I then headed home, Mrs W headed for bed for her afternoon nap and I sat watching a classic film "Jaws" I do not know how many times I have seen it, but, I still enjoy it every time I do.

Our neighbour called over to ask advice on swimming pool cleaning, we have a 15ft by 4ft pool in our garden and we tend to get lots of people asking about cleaning issues, as well as becoming very popular in the Summer holidays with all the other children nearby. I have half heartedly said in the past, I am going to erect and admissions desk and charge entry, the garden gets that busy in the summer months.

I have to collect our son from his shift at work too, on the way home I shall stop off and purchase our winning lottery tickets, or at least I hope so anyway.

This evening will be praying our lottery numbers come up, watching television and eating a curry with Mrs W as her birthday treat, I hate curry, but she and both children love it, I might order fish and chips instead, play it safe and all that.

Friday, 2 July 2010

I woke this morning and although we have had rain overnight, it still seems rather close, Mrs W had her carer in this morning, she knew our daughter as she and her daughter are friends at school, she offered and we accepted that she took our daughter to her house, she could then finish the journey to school with her friend, saved me a school run again this week, we gave our daughter some money to catch the bus home rather than me going out later on this afternoon.

Last night I figured it was going to be a relaxed night in front of the television, how wrong I was, I ended up taking our daughter out to purchase a present for Mrs W for her upcoming birthday, at a local shopping complex, we also had a Costa coffee with each other too, then, we had the hairdresser round who cut our sons hair, both events had failed to remain in my brain and I forgot I was doing either.

The chickens caused much amusement this morning walking round the garden in the rain, they were picking up all the slugs, beetles, worms and even had a row over who was going to cause the demise of a snail, one of them would strut off with it in their beak being chased by the other for it, then, put it down and thrash it on the ground again, until the other tried to get their beak on it, off she would stride once more to prevent her rival getting it. I watched them for ages. They are so funny at times.

My cough is still troublesome. Although somewhat less, I am full of cold still on top of my hayfever which since coming back from the holiday near the coast, seems to have attacked with great force.

As soon as the carer left, I headed off to the supermarket. Where, I purchased the days groceries and also some ready prepared and cooked party food as it is Mrs W's birthday tomorrow, so on Sunday we are having a birthday tea here with all the family. I cheated and bought most if not all ready cooked.

There are again no mystery shops or audits to carry out today, probably just as well given how I have been feeling lately, but not good for the finances I guess, which, in light of recent changes by the new Coalition government to carers and disability benefits is a bad thing, I need the money more now than I have ever done in the last 15 years if all the changes announced go ahead. Sad day for carers and disabled when the new government took power. But we all knew it would be. Just not as drastic as it has been so far!

This afternoon I will probably be left watching some rubbish on television while Mrs W has her nap, then, this evening, a fellow carer and myself were meant to be heading off to Bingo, she and her partner were sleeping over, so they could attend a Parkinsons support group meeting, which is being held in the local Bristol carers centre, which as it happens is just around the corner from our place,however they have had to cancel due to a problem with their car. So tonight will be sat in front of the television. I should be doing some ironing, but I figure if I leave it in a huge pile for long enough the weight will flatten it out for me, thus no need to iron it, right?

Thursday, 1 July 2010

Last night while in the very silent bingo hall, I started to have an almighty coughing fit, I could do nothing to control it, I tried holding my breathe, drink, my inhaler, but nothing I did stopped the cough, I am sure it annoyed many players who take the game seriously, but there was nothing I could do about it, despite the cough I was able to mark my tickets until the end of the game, when I headed swiftly to the toilets to try and re compose myself for the second half. Eventually I did manage to control the cough enough to resume. We came home to an empty house, our son had not come home from his shopping spree using his recent birthday money and our daughter was still at the youth club she attends most weeks. In view of me still feeling slightly under the weather and the fact we have no carers in on a Thursday morning I rummaged around our small change pot and found yet more bus fare for our daughter to get the bus to school, so I could have a lay in.

They say all the best made plans fail, well, my lay in was not to be, I know Mrs W cannot help it due to mobility issues, but I heard her get up, she is not graceful in moving and I heard her struggle to get out of bed then struggle to the toilet, then she was bashing and crashing around while in there, I heard all this and woke, somewhat on the grumpy side as a result, my plan to get a lay in had been thrown into disarray, like I say, I know she cannot help it and does not do it on purpose, but it still made me a little annoyed at spending the bus fare and not getting a lay in. The cough is still very troublesome this morning too.

The chickens are still playing a game of hide and go seek the eggs with us, one of them at least has stopped laying their eggs in the Coop, however we have found her favourite laying spot, as well as some of the missing eggs, she has found a spot under a grapevine in an old plant pot that she prefers to lay in, I am guessing it is because it is very private and shaded in this hot weather, the coop is slightly warm at times so I can understand her logic, but, it is a nuisance that she won't lay the egg in the coop with the other hen!

Today I have no mystery shop visits or store audits booked in, so, apart from taking the plastic bottles to the recycling area and a visit to the supermarket, I should have an easy day, well easy as it can be while caring for someone that is. While Mrs W had her afternoon nap, our son disappeared into his bedroom on his game console, I was left to lounge on the settee watching trashy daytime television and eating from a very large box of Cadbury chocolate éclairs that was purchased by my daughter for fathers day.
Our son also put some washing on the line for me too, he really is trying to help out as much as he can while he is at home, until his college course starts in September.

This evening will be chilling, watching television I guess, can't afford bingo again this week, although I wouldn't say no if anyone wanted to pay for me to go with them!!.

I can't believe that it is already the 1st July! this year has seemed to have gone by so quickly already, soon be seeing shops with dare I say it..... Christmas items in!